Huddersfield Giants secure derby victory over Wakefield Trinity
Last Updated: 04/08/17 11:36pm
Danny Brough helped Huddersfield make a perfect start to their Super 8s campaign with a 36-6 derby victory over Wakefield.
Scrum-half Brough scored an early try and booted six goals, including two penalties, for a 16-point haul against one of his old clubs.
Chris Chester's visitors showed no sign of ending their wretched form at this stage of the campaign, having lost all seven Super 8s fixtures in 2016.
Huddersfield only avoided an end-of-season relegation battle in the penultimate game of the regular season but they started superbly in an attempt to gain an unlikely semi-final play-off place, scoring three tries in the opening 27 minutes.
One-time Trinity playmaker Brough was tormentor in chief, starting and finishing the move for the game's opening try after seven minutes.
The Scotland captain's kick was caught and dropped by winger Ben Jones-Bishop as he was trapped in-goal and Brough swooped on the loose ball.
The veteran half-back missed the conversion attempt but combined with full-back Jordan Rankin to send in winger Darnell McIntosh for an 11th-minute touchdown.
Wakefield's flank stars Jones-Bishop and Mason Caton-Brown were having a torrid time under the high ball but it was a midfield fumble that led to loose forward Ryan Hinchcliffe racing 30 metres to score the Giants' third try.
Brough converted and added a 32nd-minute penalty with Trinity in total disarray.
It was against the run of play that Sam Williams touched down a try goaled by Liam Finn in a rare Wakefield attack two minutes before the break so there was relief among home fans when, after a disjointed start to the second half, the Giants reopened a three-score lead with Brough's 56th-minute penalty.
Trinity never threatened to close the deficit and Huddersfield duly found a second wind to finish the game with three further tries.
England internationals Leroy Cudjoe and Jermaine McGillvary exploited weaknesses down the Trinity left flank to touch down and in the final minute Daniel Smith, another ex-Wakefield player, rubbed salt in the wounds with a barge-over score and Brough kicked his sixth goal.